The DFG-Research Kolleg, “History and Society during the Mamluk Era (1250-1517)” brings together international research on the Mamluk Period and its unique model of society. In this model, a predominantly Arabic population was ruled by an elite group of freed military slaves of consistently Turkish descent. The Mamluk researchers intend to pose globally historic questions and to implement transcultural comparisons in their analysis of this unusual system, focusing particularly on the topics of governance, narrative strategies, economic system and global interlacing.